Combined pianoforte and automatically-actuated mechanism therefor.



PATENTED OCT. 15, 1907.

J. BRINSMEAD. COMBINED PIANOFORTE AND AUTOMATICALLY ACTUATED MECHANISM THEREFOR.

nruornon nLnn APB. a. 1m.

8 SHEETS-SHEET L PATENTED OCT. 15, 1907.

J. BRINSMEAD. COMBINED PIANOPORTE AND AUTOMATICALLY AGTUATED MECHANISM THEREFOR.

urmouxon nun APB.0.1900.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 27 PATENTED OCT. 15, 1907.

J. BRiNSMBAD.

COMBINED PIANOFORTE AND AUTOMATICALLY AGTUATED MECHANISM THEREFOR.

APPLICATIOI FILED APB. 9.1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

5 5a.. vusmmsmn. u c

UNITED JOHN BRINSMEAD, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR 'lO JOHN BRINSMEAD ti:

OFFICE.

SONS LIMITED,

OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

COMBINED PIANOFORTE AND AUTOMATIOALLY-ACTUATED MECHANISM: THEBEFORi To all whom it may concern:

5, Be it known that 1, JOHN BRINSMEAD, a subject oi the King oi Great Britain, and resident oi The larinsmead Works, Grai ton Road, Kentish town, London, England, director oi John Brinsmead ck Sons Limited, pianoiorte manuiacturers, have invented certain new and useiul Improvements in or Connected with Combined Pianoiortes and Automatically-iictuated Mechanism There- 1 ior, oi which the iollowing is a speciiication.

This invention relates to pianoiortes which are ad apted to be played either manually (i. c. in the ordinary way) or mechanically by means oi automatically actuated mechanism which leaves the keyboard entirely exposed to view, and the invention has ior its principal object to enable the automatic mechanism to operate upon the hammer action without the movement being transmitted either through or to the keys or key levers, so that the latter are undisturbed when the instrument is being mechanically played, and the consequently useless wear and. tear oi the key levers and associated parts is avoided.

A iurther object oi the invention is to render such instruments capable oi being played both manually and mechanically at one and the same time ii desired, so i that (say) the secondo and prime parts oi a duet may be performed by the auton'iatic mechanism and by hand The invention is thus respectively, or vice versa. designed to give to piauoiortes provided with automatic playing mechanism oi the kind reierred to, a

greatly extended range oi usciulness and artistic capacity, by at'iording at will, opportunities not only ior practice in the case oi ducts and other concerted pieces, but ior individual charactcrization oi selected portions oi a composition and also ior (say )improvisatitm upon a ground base, or again, ior suppression oi any part oi the harmony which is to be brought out by some other instrument such as the violin or by the voice. As a iurthcr result oi the invention, there is a diminution oi the eliort required to actuate the hammers by means oi 40 the automatic mechanism.

According to the present invention means are provided whereby, in the case of each note-producing element; throughout the entire scale of the instrument, the finger-key appertaining to that element, and the corresponding mechanically operated push or equivalent member oi the automatic playing mechanism, are enabled to act independently of one another upon the sticker or prolonge whereby movement is communicated to the hammer action, so that neither is the auto matic mechanism all'ected by manual operation of the key, nor is the key depressed by the movement oi the automatically actuated push.

For the sake of convenience, the invention will be described with special reierence to pneumatically oper- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 9,

Patented Oct. 15, 1907. 1906. Serial No. 310,695.

ated or controlled automatic playing mechanism inclosed within the pianoiorte, it being understood however that the automatic mechanism might be otherwise operated or controlled, as ior example electro-mechanically.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a part vertical section irom iront to rearoi a pianoiorte oi the kind reierred to, showing so much oi the mechanism oi a single note-producing element as is necessary to illustrate the application thereto oi the invention, all the parts being in position oi rest. Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views, the ordinary linger-key mechanism and the automatic playing mechanism being respectively shown as in operation.

In the drawings A is the rear portion oi the lingerl key lever appertaining to the note-producing element l illustrated; B is the corresponding sticker or prolonge whereby movement is transmitted irom the key lever 3 A to the hammer action (which latter may be oi any i convenient or preierred type oi construction), and O is the push or piston rod appertaining to the corresponding element oi the pnuematically actuated automatic 1 playing mechanism. D is the usual key-bottom. The l prolonge B works as usual in an approximately vertical l direction, the upper end of its stem being preierably guided by means oi a radius link E pivoted as at c to the prolonge and as at f to a iixed member 1* oi the l iranre oi the instrument. The lower end I) oi the prolong-e, which ior this purpose may be oi inverted '1- shape as indicated, is provided with separate and independently adjustable buttons G, ll (tipped with ielt in the. usual manner) whereby to enable the prolonge to be actuated by the corresponding linger key an d pneumatic push respectively, said buttons being arranged the one directly behind the other and carried by stems g, h threaded to screw through corresponding holes in the T-end b oi the prolonge. That button G which is actuated by the key is towards the iront, and may rest upon a rearward prolongation j oi a lead block J iixed to the underside oi the rear end of the key lever A, said block being adapted to serve in place oi the usual counter-poise ior the key, and being titted to rest normally upon the key-bottom D through the medium. oi a felt cushion d. The other or rear button l'l rests upon a block liconstituting the head oi the pneumatic piston rod or push O, which works vertically through guides provided in or carried by the key-bottom D upon which the block K may normally rest as indicated in Figs. I l and 2. i The block Ii is provided at its upper end with a ver l tical hole is which serves as a guide for the lower end of the prolonge B, the stem oi the screw stem h (where I by the corresponding button H isadjustablyattached j beneath the lower end of the prolonge) being down wardly lengthened as atl to an'extent greater thanthe amount of the vertical movement of the prolonge, and made plain (i. e. devoid of screw threads) so as to be adapted to work without friction in the hole 70 in the block K. When on the one hand the prolonge B is raised by the actuation of the key-lever A (as shown in Fig. 2) the stem 1 slides upward through, but does not leave, the hole It, and when on the other hand the prolonge is raised by the actuation of the pneumatic piston rod 0 (as shown in Fig. 3) the stem 1 of courseremains in the hole k, which thus always serves as a guide for the lower end of'the prolonge and renders further guidance thereof-at this point unnecessary.

As will be seen-from thedrawings, the result of the construction describedis that the actuation of the pneumatic piston rod or push G leaves the key-lever A unaffected, and vice-versa, so that when the automatic playing mechanism is in use, the'keys oi=the pianoforte remain at rest, and when the instrument is played manually, no resistance or impediment is offered by the automatic mechanism to the movement ofthe hand. Hence also, both the manually andthe automatically operated mechanisms may be used at the same time without either of them'suffering hindranceor obstruction of any kind from the other. I

The key-bottom D of a pianofortebeing of considerablethickness, the pneumatic piston rods or pushes C which extend vertically upwards from thepneumatic chest through the key-bottom are preferably made to pass throughclearing holes in the latter, and'may be guided'only at the upper andlowerfaces of the key bottom as shown. For thispurpose the guides are constitutedby holes in a pair of longitudinally extending bars m, n, the piston'rods or pushes C being made an accurate working fit in the holes. In order to insure perfect registration of the respective holes in the one bar in or n-with'those in the other, the bars are formed by dividing at a horizontal'plane a single railaiter the same has had the entire series of holes drilled vertically through it, the two half-thicknesses m and it thus formed being, after separation, fixed securely in position by being let into corresponding parallel grooves provided the one atthe upper and the other at the lower face of the key-bottom as indicated.

1. In a manually and mechanically operated pianoforte thecombination of prolonges, front and rear adjustable buttons attached to the lower-ends of the prolonges, key levers, extensions on the key-levers carrying the front buttons, mechanically. operated mechanism, piston rods connected to the mechanism and vertically movable blocks carrying the rear buttons and connected to the piston rods, substantially as-specified.

2. In a manually and mechanically operated pianoforte the combination ofkey-levers, extensions on the rear of the keylevers, a prolong'e for each of the key-levers, radius arms attached to the upper end of the prolonges, front and rear adjustable buttons attached to the lower end of each of the prolonges, mechanically operated mechanism, piston rods connected to the mechanism and vertically movable blocks connected with the piston rods, the front and rear buttons respectively bearing on the extensions of the key levers and vertically movable block's, substantially as specified.

3. In a manually and mechanically operated pianoforte the combination of key levers, extensions on the rear of the key-levers, prolonges, radius arms pivotedto the upper end of the prolonges, front and rear buttons, screws for adjustably connecting the buttons to the lower end of the prolonges, mechanically operated mechanism, piston rods connected to the mechanism and vertically-movable blocks connected to the piston rods, the front and rear buttons respectively being adjustable relatively to and bearing on 'the extensions of the key-levers and vertically movable blocks, substantially as specified.

4. In a manually and mechanically operated pianoforte the combination of key levers, extensions on the rear of the key-levers, prolonges, radius arms pivotally attached to the frame of the pianoforte and the upper ends of the prolonges, front and rear adjustable buttons attached to the enlarged lower ends of the prolong-es, mechanically operated niechanism, piston rods connected to the mechanism, vertically movable blocks connected to the piston rods, each block being provided with a vertical guide hole, and stems projecting from the rear buttons and extending into the holes of the blocks to maintain in conjunction with the radius arms, the position of the buttons relatively to-the key levers and the mechanically operated mechanism, substantially as specified.

JOHN BRINSMEAD.

Witnesses:

Hr. BILLINGHURS'I, G. F. WARREN. 

